tourIsm Landmarks ‘go green’ for Ireland pETE hAymAn Proposals include increasing inbound tourism


Government announces new tourism strategy


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England and Wales’ May Day bank holiday could be moved to another time of year as part of the government’s new strategy to enhance the UK’s tourism industry. St David’s Day (Wales) in March and St


George’s Day (England) in April could pro- vide a rescheduled bank holiday, while a ‘Trafalgar Day’ could also take May Day’s place in October. However, plans to move UK clocks in line with Central European Time, which would be one hour ahead of Greenwich Mean Time in winter, have been scrapped. Other proposals set out in the Tourism


Strategy include improving the entry visa process for overseas visitors and the intro- duction of more e-Passport gates to reduce queuing times. Te government has also set out its ambitions for a £100m market- ing campaign joint-funded in partnership with the private sector to attract 4 million extra visitors over the next four years. Tourism minister John Penrose said:


“Te UK tourism industry generates £90bn for the economy every year, employing 1.36 million people and supporting more than 200,000 businesses, large and small. “It’s no surprise that the government sees


it as a key element in our plans to grow the economy and get Britain back on its feet.”


Tourism sector launches air tax campaign


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A number of travel and tourism businesses and groups have teamed to encourage the government to prevent any further increases in aviation tax. Fair Tax on Flying is being led by the


Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA), which has revealed that UK holi- daymakers pay the highest levels of flight tax in Europe. According to a study car- ried out by ComRes on behalf of ABTA, 63 per cent of consumers believe aviation tax levels to be too high.


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A number of global land- marks are to ‘go green’ on St Patrick’s Day to mark the launch of Tourism Ireland’s EUR28m (£23.7m) overseas marketing campaign. Among the landmarks due


to turn green on 17 March as part of the initiative is the London Eye; Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa; the Sky Tower in Auckland, New Zealand; the Manneken Pis, Brussels, Belgium; and the Empire State Building in New York, US. Tourism Ireland is also planning a number


Cape Town’s Table Mountain is one of the global landmarks to ‘go green’


of other promotional events in a number of UK cities and across other key markets such as North America, France and Germany to help attract more visitors to Ireland. Niall Gibbons, the agency’s chief execu- tive, said: “People across the world instantly


identify St Patrick’s Day with Ireland and that heightened profile allows us to put the Ireland holiday experience in the spotlight. “Our message this year is that there has


never been a better time to visit Ireland, with better-than-ever value from industry partners here and great things to do and see.”


BAA refused appeal against sell-off ruling pETE hAymAn


BAA has been refused permission to appeal a Competition Commission ruling requiring the sale of two airports by the Supreme Court. In March 2009, the operator was told to sell Gatwick, Stansted and either Glasgow or


Edinburgh airports. Despite selling Gatwick, it successfully challenged the ruling at the Competiton Appeal Tribunal in late 2009. Te commission fought back last October,


however, aſter the Court of Appeal overturned the tribunal’s verdict.


VisitBritain and Emirates launch campaign pETE hAymAn


Tourism agency VisitBritain and airline Emirates have launched a new joint-funded marketing campaign aimed at the UK’s growth markets. Britain: A Tradition of


Luxury will be rolled out in China, India, UAE and Singapore, and is aimed at attracting more affluent inter- national travellers between the ages of 35-55 years old. The multi-channel ini-


tiative aims to promote the luxury experiences currently on offer in the UK, including press advertising, internet marketing and direct emails. VisitBritain director of marketing Laurence


Read Leisure Opportunities online: www.leisureopportunities.co.uk/digital Shopping at Harrods is one of the UK’s ‘luxurious experiences’ on offer


Bresh said: “Whether these visitors have a pas- sion for rubbing shoulders with the British elite


at Royal Ascot, shopping at Harrods, taking a journey on the Orient-Express or a stay at the May Fair London, we have many luxurious experiences just waiting to be enjoyed.”


Twitter: @leisureopps © CYBERTREK 2011


image: britain on view


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